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KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — Officials dismissed reports Thursday that the missing Malaysian airliner’s engines continued sending data for hours after its last contact, but said it was possible the plane continued flying and that they would widen their search farther to the west.

The Wall Street Journal newspaper quoted U.S. investigators on Thursday as saying they suspected the Boeing 777 remained in the air for about four hours after its last confirmed contact, citing data from the plane’s engines that are automatically transmitted to the ground as part of a routine maintenance program.

Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the government had contacted Boeing and Rolls-Royce, the engine manufacturer, and both had said the last engine data was received at 1:07 a.m. Saturday, before the plane lost contact over the South China Sea on its way to Beijing.

An international search effort is sweeping the South China Sea and also the Strait of Malacca because of unconfirmed military radar sightings indicating the plane may have changed course and headed west after it stopped communicating.

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Asked if it were possible that the plane kept flying for several hours, Hishammuddin said, “Of course, this is why we have extended the search.”

He said the search had been expanded into the Andaman Sea and that the country was asking for radar data from neighbouring countries. If the plane flew far from current search areas, then locating it will be a much harder task.

Investigators have not ruled out any possible cause for the disappearance of the plane and the 239 people on board, including two Canadians.

The plane went missing Saturday morning while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Earlier, the Malaysian civil aviation chief, Datuk Azharurddin Abdul Rahman, said the government would investigate a Chinese report of debris floating off the southern tip of Vietnam, if the Chinese government sent coordinates.

The Chinese satellite images originally were posted on the website of China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence. But since the satellite images were taken four days ago, it is far from certain that whatever they show would be in the same location now.

No other governments have confirmed the Xinhua report, which did not say when Chinese officials became aware of the images and associated them with the missing plane.

Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, and the Chinese government has put increasing pressure on Malaysian officials to solve the mystery of the plane’s disappearance.

“If we get confirmation, we will send something,” the civil aviation chief told The Associated Press early Thursday.

Until then, he urged caution. “There have been lots of reports of suspected debris.”

The Chinese reports of the satellite images came after several days of confusing and conflicting statements from Malaysian officials.

Earlier Wednesday, the Malaysian military officially disclosed why it was searching on both sides of country: A review of military radar records showed what might have been the plane turning back and crossing westward into the Strait of Malacca.

That would conflict with the latest images on the Chinese website.

For now, authorities said the international search effort would stay focused on the South China Sea and the strait leading toward the Andaman Sea.

Chinese impatience has grown.

“There’s too much information and confusion right now. It is very hard for us to decide whether a given piece of information is accurate,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing.

“We have nothing to hide,” said the Malaysian defence minister. “There is only confusion if you want to see confusion.”

Flight MH370 disappeared from civilian radar screens at 1:30 a.m. Saturday at an altitude of about 35,000 feet above the Gulf of Thailand between Malaysia and southern Vietnam. It sent no distress signals or any indication it was experiencing problems.

If all those on board are confirmed dead, it would be the deadliest commercial air accident in 10 years.

The amount of time needed to find aircraft that go down over the ocean can vary widely. Planes that crash into relatively shallow areas, like the waters off Vietnam, are far easier to locate and recover than those that plunge into undersea canyons or mountain ranges.

“It’s not something that is easy. We are looking at so many vessels and aircraft, so many countries to co-ordinate, and a vast area for us to search,” he told a news conference.

Confusion over whether the plane had been seen flying west prompted speculation that different arms of the government might have different opinions about its location, or even that authorities were holding back information.

Choi Tat Sang, a 74-year-old Malaysian, said his family is still holding out hope that the plane and all on board are safe. His 45-year-old daughter-in-law, Goh Sock Lay, was the chief flight attendant. Her 14-year-old daughter, an only child, has been crying every day since the plane’s disappearance.

“We are heartbroken. We are continuing to pray for her safety and for everyone on the flight,” he said.

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